Mass Effect one shot - edition 2
by donamatter
Summary: carrying on from my previous mass effect fan fiction - READ BEFORE READING THIS ONE - Shepard has completed the horizon mission from ME2. This is the story of Kasumi Gotto's recruitment. This series is a very augmented and warped version of Mass Effect with some improvements and more cheesy Mass Effect comedy, its gonna be mint.


The Illusive man had met many individuals in his time but none like Commander Shepard, which was why he committed a substantial amount of his time and resources to bringing him back. Despite his gratitude Shepard seemed slow to trust him, however he had expected this. He had watched Shepard for many years with a keen eye, noticing his every action and documenting the way he thinks. However despite all his documentation when he conversed with Shepard, no matter what he said he couldn't appeal to Shepard's honour or his humanity.

He sits in his chair looking over data collected from Cerberus cells as per usual. A light blinks on a holo control on the chairs right arm and the chair turns around to face a circular holo plate connected to a long range quantum entanglement communicator on the Normandy SR-2. The holographic projection of Commander Shepard builds up, body part by body part.

"Shepard, I just finished reading the reports from Horizon, you said a gunnery Sergeant Williams was there" begins the Illusive man, "I hope this doesn't cause a problem."

"I have more pressing matters; I can put it behind me."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure."

"EDI reported that Mordin's seeker swarm repellent worked?"

"It did, not that it was worth anything; most of the colonists were taken."

"You did your best Shepard, don't blame it on yourself."

"I'm not."

The Illusive man cocked an eyebrow at Shepard's responses, they were contradictory to what the illusive man expected; and he was almost always right.

"Your next port of call is the citadel, I've forwarded a separate dossier to your private terminal on a talented thief known as 'Kasumi' she'll be a valuable addition to your crew."

"I'll go there then."

Shepard turns around and walks out of the communicator's projection range and the signal cuts off. The Illusive man's chair turns around again to look at the several holo projections in the air in front of him. He presses a button on the arm of his chair and a comm channel opens up to a Cerberus Comm station.

"Get me Operator Lawson."

Kasumi watches Commander Shepard from the railings above him out of sight and out of mind. She follows him to the Purgatory bar where he sits down at a table on his own but for some reason booked 2 seats and had taken two glasses and two bottles of iced brandy from the bar. He couldn't possibly know she was watching him, no way.

"Kasumi" buzzed her comm; his voice was hollow and meaning less as he looks up to meet her gaze.

Kasumi quivers at the sight of his eyes and quickly makes her way to a dark corner and gets down from the railings to join Shepard at the table.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would come down" smiles Shepard.

"How did you know I was there?" she asks.

"I didn't."

Kasumi looks at him confused; he looked right at her and had his comm on the right frequency to talk to her.

"What do you mean you didn't know?"

"Exactly that; I didn't know you were there."

"But you looked right at me, and your comm was on the same frequency as mine."

Shepard looks at his Omni-tool checking the frequency of his comm signals.

"Well would you look at that, it's been broadcasting on all frequencies" chuckles Shepard.

'_How ironic'_ Kasumi thinks to herself as she pours herself a glass of iced brandy.

"So, why are you here?" she asks.

"I'm leading a team through the Omega 4 relay to stop the Collectors."

"Sounds dangerous" rebuts Kasumi taking a mouth full of Brandy.

"Danger is what keeps this galaxy turning, plus it makes things a lot more interesting."

Kasumi nearly chokes when she sees a group of Blue suns mercenaries enter the club in full armour and weapons on their backs. Shepard looks behind him to see the mercenaries walking towards them.

"Friends of yours?" asks Shepard sarcastically.

"I shouldn't have come here" she panics.

"Relax, I've got this" assures Shepard calmly.

The group of mercenaries stop at the table and eye them both off. Shepard casually takes a swig from his glass and sits it back down on the table.

"Can I help you?" asks Shepard.

"We're here for Kasumi, stay out of our way and you won't be harmed" replies a Batarian heading the group.

The Batarian looks at Shepard and suddenly his six eyes lock onto Shepard's. Whispers crawl around his thoughts and darkness slithers over his brain.

"I beg your pardon?" wonders Shepard.

The Batarian stands in pure awe, un-moving and broken to the point of no return. His face began to twitch and his ear drums began to bleed; _"assuming control" _echoed the voice of Harbinger in the Batarian's head. The Batarian's mind shatters into pieces and Shepard uses Harbingers personification to use him.

"Sorry sir, I think we have the wrong person," "Sorry for interrupting your evening."

The Batarian signals for his men to follow him. His Turian and human compatriots complained and moaned that this was Kasumi but the Batarian insisted that they leave. The group hesitantly left Kasumi alone and left Purgatory.

"What…just happened?" asks Kasumi.

Shepard quickly pours himself another drink then takes a mouthful and gets up to leave.

"Well Kasumi, this was lovely," he smirks.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to my ship" he replies as he slides his jacket over his shoulders.

Kasumi hadn't realised he belonged on a ship due to his casual attire and laid back personality.

"Are you alliance?" she asks.

"Cerberus at the moment, I did mention that I was going through the Omega 4 relay."

Kasumi suddenly remembers him mentioning it, how could she forget that, she never forgets things like that.

"Then why are you here with me?"

"I'm here to recruit you for the mission," "I need the best and apparently you're it."

Kasumi's eyes narrow as she is confronted by the offer laid in front of her by Shepard.

"Your choice" says Shepard walking off.

Shepard leaves purgatory while Kasumi sits at the abandoned table in awe and loneliness. She was confused, grateful and scared all at the same time; she couldn't decide to go with Shepard or not.

Shepard walked across the aft of the CIC. The great oval shaped room had a large triangular shaped holo projector in the centre surrounded by a series of consoles and personnel. He headed towards the galaxy map hovering over the projector after changing into a more restricting Cerberus uniform. Kelly Chambers stood at a console to the right of the ramped platform which extended towards the projection of the galaxy.

"Commander, there's a women outside called 'Kasumi' wanting permission to come aboard" says Joker over the CIC's intercom.

Shepard smiled with satisfaction and Chambers watched on in observation. As Shepard's psych evaluator she had documented many of his behavioural patterns and compared them to his actions pre-Cerberus. She had noticed him exhibiting sociopathic tendencies towards mostly Cerberus originating crew members, probably just a problem he has with Cerberus's history.

"Permission granted."

The air lock opens to the Normandy and Kasumi walks onto the Normandy's tech corridor lined by personnel at holographic consoles. She looks to her left to see the cockpit where Joker sits running over readings from various Normandy systems.

"Kasumi!" yelps Shepard as he walks closer.

As soon as she lays eyes on him she is instantly enthralled by his heavy, seductive eyes.

"Shepard, it's a nice ship you have here" she replies.

'_He looks more at home in the uniform'_ she thinks to herself as he stops halfway down the hall and signals for her to come closer. She makes her way to his side and they begin to walk together down the corridor and into the CIC.

"Thank you, I hope you're okay with the port side observation deck."

"It'll be fine, thank you."

"No, thank you."

The two of them walk around the back of the galaxy map and stand in front of the elevator. The door segments into eight pieces and pulls back into the wall revealing a spacious metallic elevator.

"Deck 3, walk straight out and turn right."

Kasumi walks into the elevator and selects deck 3 and the door segments join in the centre and the elevator descends down.

"You did well to recruit her" smiles Chambers.

"I'm just doing what I have to."

Kelly's console beeps and she quickly scans over the received document.

"Sir, the Illusive man wishes to speak with you in the conference room."

"Shepard, Miss Chambers just informed me about Kasumi, well done, I'm impressed" says the Illusive man.

"Kasumi is an exceptional tech expert and assassin; she'll be useful in the fight against the Collectors."

"I agree, I would suggest making your way to Omega to recruit archangel next," "reports suggest blue suns mercenaries are pushing him back."

"I'll speak with Aria T'Loak; she'll be able to point me in the right direction."

"Good idea, this is why I brought you back Shepard, your initiative will save humanity."

Shepard smirks and the illusive man sits down and extends an arm to switch off the connection but is interrupted by Shepard.

"Oh and I know you asked Miss Lawson to spy on me and Kasumi."

The Illusive man almost chokes on the smoke of his cigarette and his lungs rasp for air. He coughs and splutters then inhales heavily to sit back in his chair.

"How did you know?" he asks as his breathing stabilises.

"I didn't, it was just a hunch," smiles Shepard, "apparently I was right."

The Illusive man frowns at Shepard's passiveness as he walks off the holo plate and the connection is lost. His chair turns around and he sits silently watching the large sun quiver and crawl with reds, yellows and blues. His strange eyes look directly at the huge ball of colour un-nerving and he takes another puff on his cigarette.

"Why must you test my patience Shepard, why?"


End file.
